Update on Finance

This past weekend, the Texas House passed its version of a budget for the upcoming biennium. It was a very lean budget that included about $8 billion in budget cuts for public education. The House bill differs dramatically from the Senate budget recommendation that reduced the cuts to public education to $4 billion. The Senate will now take up the House budget in full committee. Senator Ogden, the Finance Committee Chairman, has said he does not have the votes to get the House budget out of the Finance Committee. So senators have been adding more to their proposal — about $10 billion in total. It would appear that the budget bill will end up in a Senate and House conference committee.